Alternative Methods For Displaying Reference Images In Blender

Setting up Reference Images

Adding empty image planes is the most common way to setup reference images in Blender. This involves adding a new Image Plane object and then assigning an image to it. The image plane can be positioned and rotated as needed to align the reference image within the 3D scene.

To add an empty image plane, in Object Mode with nothing selected, press Shift+A and select Image > Image Plane. This will create a new plane object with an Empty image texture. In the Properties panel, open the Data tab and set a reference image in the Image property. Common image formats like JPEG, PNG and TIFF are supported. The image will now be displayed on the plane in the 3D Viewport.

By adjusting the position, rotation and scale values under the Object Data properties, the image plane can be arranged as needed. Using side, front and top orthographic views helps align the reference correctly. The image plane’s transparency can also be adjusted under Display > Opacity. Lowering the alpha value makes the image fade into the background.

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Adjusting Reference Image Settings

Blender provides several options to adjust how the reference images displayed on image planes and empties are visualized in the 3D Viewport.

The most basic setting is visibility – whether the image plane is rendered or not. Like other objects, the visibility can be toggled with the icon in the Outliner or using the H key. This can help hide reference images quickly when needed to reduce viewport clutter.

The display property controls how the image is mapped to the plane. The default Image setting displays the image as-is with no distortion. Background mode stretches the image symmetrically on X and Y axes to fill the entire plane. Stretch mode scales the image non-uniformly to fill the plane dimensions.

Managing the aspect ratio correctly ensures the image doesn’t look distorted. This can be done under Object Data Properties > Image Mapping > Scale > Match Camera Aspect in most cases. Disabling this option provides manual control over X and Y scale factors.

In the Image Mapping panel, Opacity can be lowered, like with standard materials, to make the reference fade into the background. Values between 30-50% often work well for reference textures.

Attaching Reference Images to Objects

Having reference images freely floating in 3D space can make them hard to manage. Attaching image planes to specific objects in the scene using parenting or constraints helps keep them neatly organized.

For simpler cases, parent the image plane to the object that needs the reference image. Select the child first (image plane) then shift select the parent object. Press Ctrl+P and choose Object. Now when the parent object moves, rotates or scales, the image plane will follow.

For more advanced control, constraint modifiers offer more ways to attach. For example, Copy Location will sync the image plane position to the head object. Adding a Copy Rotation constraint makes the image rotate together with the head. This allows blending facial reference images that move realistically.

Optimizing Performance with Reference Images

Displaying multiple high resolution reference images in Blender can quickly slow down the viewport and modeling workflow. Luckily there are settings to improve performance and responsiveness.

The quickest way is to lower the actual source image resolution. 2000x2000px or less is recommended. JPEG compression levels between 60-80 offer a good tradeoff between quality and file size.

Enable Proxy render under Data Properties > Image to use a lower resolution proxy image for faster zooming and panning. The full res image will still show when the viewport is idle.

Display percent under Viewport Display limits reference visibility based on distance from the viewport camera. Lower values make planes disappear when further away so fewer are drawn at once.

Alternative Workflows

While image planes are the standard way to use reference images in Blender, other methods provide unique advantages that suit specialized workflows.

UV texture projection allows “baking” reference photos directly onto model surfaces, ideal for sculpting fine details from the images. The Shader Editor combined with screen-space textures offers real-time panning/zooming without needing separate image planes.

For concept artists, vertex painting directly onto objects provides a flexible way to visualize color, lighting or texture references that update dynamically during modeling or animation.

Combining multiple techniques like using quick image planes at low opacity to position larger displaced vertex paintings is powerful for character artwork and technical demos.

Example Script for Adding Reference Images

Manually adding and positioning image planes for references can be tedious. Custom Python scripts to automate this speeds up setting up reference images considerably.

This simple script creates an image plane already scaled and located in the center of the scene. Key functions used include:

bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_plane_add() – adds a default plane mesh object
bpy.ops.mesh.uv_texture_add() – sets up default UVs for image mapping
bpy.ops.image.open() – loads the reference image file
obj.scale – scales the plane to 5 units on X and Y axes
obj.location – positions plane at world origin

Extending this by looping over multiple images lets you batch generate as many reference planes as needed in just a few lines of code.